David Johnston rises above politics in delivering his foreign interference report

OTTAWA—Special Rapporteur David Johnston has done his job, completed his interim report, and submitted his recommendations. He does not feel a full-blown public inquiry into foreign interference is warranted. If you're a policy wonk, this is cause for celebration. Less so if you’re a politician. A public inquiry, as Johnston points out, “would have been an easy choice, it would not have been a correct choice.” He could have added that it would have been a reaction to exaggerated hype by the media, sour-grapes posturing by the Conservatives after losing two secure seats in Chinese-Canadian ridings in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, and sporadic-yet-steady leaks by the security agencies. In an advanced multi-party state like Canada, none of these should be good enough reasons to drive public policy decisions. It could work in a single-party country like China, where the bureaucratic cadres instinctively couch their policy advice in the government’s political agenda. It could also work in a two-party state like the United States, where bureaucrats develop policies with an eye on generating political division and exposing cleavages. We do neither in Canada. Kudos to Johnston for recognizing that. As he notes, given the subject's secret nature, a public inquiry would not achieve much. It would just be a political sideshow. Johnston also found that neither the prime minister or his cabinet “knowingly or negligently” failed to act on advice on intelligence. While he may be right regarding the specifics of the 2019 and 2021 elections, he is not entirely correct about the dossier as whole. In fact, the Liberals have been aware of foreign interference for a while, but have procrastinated in addressing it in any meaningful fashion. Threats of Chinese and Indian attempts to interfere in our internal matters, including influencing Canadian political outcomes, is not news. In a report titled Countering Hostile State Activity: The Canadian Perspective, federal bureaucrats outlined the risks as far back as March 2018. Even groups like the World Sikh Organization repeatedly raised red flags after stories emerged about the Indian government spying on Sikh and Kashmiri communities in Germany. Intelligence services also named Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela as countries being monitored. Yet, five years later, the Liberals did nothing. By 2019, the Trudeau government had fully joined the budding pro-India/anti-China bandwagon. This created a difficult political conundrum: you can’t point the finger at one while ignoring the other. Throw in Saudi Arabia, which in 2020 alone bought over $1.30-billion of Canadian military hardware to reign terror in Yemen, and it is not difficult to see how “do nothing” quickly becomes the preferred option. Doing something—anything—could inadvertently turn out to be a hornet’s nest. The opposition parties are not happy with Johnston. In his blog, former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was quick to call Johnston’s investigation “a box-check exercise.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre didn’t even bother to meet with Johnston. Instead, he hurled schoolyard insults and trivialized a legitimate processes used by modern democracies. At least Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh met with Johnston, and put their positions on the historical record. But Poilievre, our presumed prime-minister-in-waiting, couldn’t care less. Johnston, therefore, needs to be commended. He could have succumbed to political pressures and recommended a public inquiry. As a man of moral character, he did not. He gave his neutral, independent advice, despite the possibility this his good name could—and would—be dragged through the political mud. Poilievre has already started that mud-slinging, calling for Johnston to “get out of the way.” For a country like Canada, where one in four of us is an immigrant, it is not enough to inquire into what China did in 2019 or 2021, but what every country in the world is doing every day. As such, the prime minister should direct Johnston to spend the rest his mandate undertaking a far-reaching probe into everything from American oligarchs funding our lobbyists and think tanks, to agents of friendly foreign countries infiltrating our mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, and diaspora cultural groups, to foreign countries denying Canadians visas and harassing their families in the country of their birth. The Trudeau Liberals can breathe a sigh of relief, for now. But foreign interference is not going away. The government’s plan to implement the foreign agent registry is just one small step. The Liberals need to consider a developing a fuller menu of robust and sustainable policy measures. As for the opposition parties, while they gather their bearings, they may want to consider this thought: advocating for strong policy, sound programs, and appropriate legislative instruments sometimes wins more hearts and minds then always playing politics. Bhagwant Sandhu is a retired director general from the federal government. Between 2002-21 he held senior roles in several departments, including Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Infrastructure Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Public Works Canada. He has also held executive positions in the governments of Ontario and British Columbia. The Hill Times

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David Johnston rises above politics in delivering his foreign interference report

Justin Trudeau and his government can breathe a sigh of relief—for now—but foreign interference is not going away.

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